FEAR AND LOATHING IN SEATTLE

Friday Dec 9th started like any other day as I was driving home to
get ready for the big show. But about 2 miles away from home my car
died at a busy intersection. People jumped out to help and I saw a
police car pull up behind me. They helped me park the car in a safe
spot and offered “Do you need a ride?” I pulled up to my house riding
in the back of a Seattle Police car. Thanks to the Seattle Police I
made it to sound check on time for a Bushwick Book club show inspired
by the book Fear and Loathing Las Vegas. It was fascinating to go from
one extreme to another as we got ready to rock at Town Hall. The show
was an awesome success and I had the pleasure of hearing some of
seattle’s top singer-songwiters such as Led to Sea, Galen Green,
Hannah Williams (Youth Rescue Mission), Emily Westman, The Thoughts,
Bucket of Honey, Mike Votava (We Wrote the Book on Connectors, Andrew
Nunez and Jason Dodson (The Maldives).
_______________________________________________________________________
Watch the Fear and Loathing Show!

Watch the videos:
Last Laugh :

http://youtu.be/LGuAb41JCC4
American Dream:

http://youtu.be/A5aFj85V4VU

The inspiration behind American Dream:

When I was 19 I had a dream I was in a Vegas Casino. I was watching
an old woman pumping quarters into a slot. Her face was a scene of
utter desperation. But Suddenly the bells and whistles went off and
her face changed as gold coins began overflowing her slot. She turned
to shout her face heavy with joy but as her back was turned another
man with a hunger for what what was hers came and stole her coins and
her face once again was a scene of desperation._

Many have said that Greed and attachment is the source of our
suffering. And I believe that Greed and attachment is the source of
the American dream.

Hunter S Thompson went to look for the American dream in Las Vegas.
And what he found there was that the American dream had killed the
movement of the 60’s a generation that sought to change and work
together was destroyed when we all choose we would rather be saved and
therefore deceived by the American Dream.

Thanks for reading and take care.
-Tai Shan

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These videos are from our student Showcase on 11/18/2011. Please enjoy the performances of Gus Coluccio, Molly Craig, Brody Hunt, Roya Baker, Sterling O’neil, Olivia Rexford, Neve Levingston, Maeve Bell, Julia Quandt, Ellie Andrews, Katie Parker, Suzan Setel, Emmaline Durand

Push the bottom right Icon to scroll through the videos

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On the cold November night of the 18th, 2011, a day were hail fell from the sky and the wind raked the trees their was warmth in the basement of Dusty Strings where the Dusty Strings Music School was open for a special event.

I was getting ready to host my Student Showcase; a bi-annual show that features the talents of my private students as they share cover songs and originals with a friendly audience of friends and family. Every song won the praise of the audience as they showed their support with a thunderous applause and hoots and hollers.

Now in my 5th year of teaching guitar, voice and songwriting this will be my 7th show I have hosted, including hosting a show for my advance students at Egan’s Ballard Jam house last year.

I have been scheduling the shows since the day 3 years ago when I saw one of my students struggling with stage fright. She had written an amazing song and couldn’t share it with her friends for fear they would make fun of her. I booked a showcase and she was one of the performers and since then has starred in many performances at school and at coffee shops.

For my students these showcases are a testing ground, a chance to deal with stage fright in a caring safe environment. And tonight they ROCKED IT! My students performed better than ever and blew me away. Performers included: Gus Coluccio, Molly Craig, Brody Hunt, Roya Baker, Sterling O’neil, Olivia Rexford, Neve Levingston, Maeve Bell, Julia Quandt, Ellie Andrews, Katie Parker, Suzan Setel, Emmaline Durand

I can not explain the joy I feel as a teacher when I have the chance to watch my students perform for such a caring audience. Its a lot of hard work that goes into performances and all the work I saw came from months worth of practice.

As the night progressed I watched each and everyone of my students take the stage like a professional and perform better than I ever saw in our private lessons together.
I believe that performance is the final step to becoming a musician and it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. You can sing your heart out in your bedroom but when you walk on stage and perform you combine everything you learned in a classroom and put it to use.

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On Dec 9th at 8pm at Seattle’s Town Hall
Tai Shan will be performing 2 songs inspired by the book Fear and Loathing Las Vegas with the Seattle Rock Orchestra brought to you by the Bushwick Book Club. The Seattle Rock Orchestra is not your typical orchestra: the volunteer group collaborates with bands and artists to produce one-of-a-kind symphonic shows. In the past they have held tributes for the bands Queen, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Stevie Wonder.

The first song I wrote is a 8 minute orchestra piece called American Dream.
My aim was to discuss the sickness Hunter found in the Vegas Casinos. The clientele were scraping at the edge of the American Dream hoping to somehow be saved.
Juxtaposed with this is the fall of the free-love sixties. A movement that wanted to change society from the 2.3 kids and a home to a more cooperative community. But was failed by that same desire. In otherwords the they were “deceived when they choose to believe in the American Dream.

American Dream

I’m hear on a mission, here to reveal that ugliness and failure our with us still
slashed in red lipstick or suited in spades
they came to sink there teeth in the American Dream

All the crawling pretties are down on there knees
sick with the stench of there rotting decease
Quarters in slots, rinse and repeat, they’re sick with the American dream

Chorus:

Who are these people
Where to they come from?
Is this what the American dream has become
There was a time when a spark led to a wave
a generation saw a world that they could change
but that vision quickly fades
when you think you’ve been saved
But you were deceived
by the American dream

Your rich off the killings and sick from the kill
starving off madness with your green sweaty bills
Where’s the screaming eagles with American flags
To save these poor people from gambling all they had

The music will be inspired by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. Featuring performances by Noah Gunderson, Led to Sea, Galen Green, Hannah Williams, Emily Westman, The Thoughts, Bucket of Honey, Mike Votava, Andrew Nunez, Jason Dodson and myself.

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I was recently chosen to talk about my song Mark Twain. I sat down with Geoff Larson curator of Bushwick Book Club to discuss A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and my songwriting process.

Download the Song:

The following interview was broadcast on KBCS/91.3/One World Report

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